Advocate Blogg 1

I chose to interview a head start teacher in a center base preschool program.  She expressed her concerns about children in need of early intervention that are not getting it and who are not identified in time. I find that there are more children from different cultures with different languages being pulled together in the preschool/head start programs.  There is a need for teachers to communicate with families of different cultures and languages. I work in a program with families that I cannot even understand.  I feel so helpless in the classroom around them.  I chose to do my research paper on early intervention. The questions I have related to the topics that I chose are how are assessments scheduled and performed/what are they looking for? Also how to communicate and educate parents of resources and their rights for services for their child with disability if I can’t communicate with them?  Also the type of help that is available for child through the early invention program?

This interview has given me the hunger to gain knowledge that would support me in finding resources related to information on disabilities, and how to help parents to get assistance for their child.  How to communicate and advocate for families that do not understand and speak the same language that I do?  I would like to be a large part of making a difference after identifying the need for services alone with understanding the process and roles of the providers that provide the services.  Also I would want to know how to perform the assessments, and how to plan and implement the IFSP/IEP for students and families.  I want to be the voice for families and children with disabilities in early childhood programs.

I have noticed and identified children in programs that need extra help based on the milestones they are to be performing.  I find that parents are in denial or do not know how to initiate help.  They cannot describe what they need.  It takes professionals to educate and initiate resources for parents.  The questions I have related to my own experience are why does it take so long for the process to gain services for children and families?  How is the service to be implemented in the classroom with limited classroom staff?  How can untrained teachers implement the IFSP/IEP in the classroom?  How do parents make sure the plan is being followed to maintain success?

Specific aspects of the topics in which I am most interested is what does the early intervention program do?  What is the assessment process, and the actual providing of services to the children and families identified with the need for special needs services for the children ages three and under.  My concerns are the language barriers in the classroom.  The greatest knowledge of an early intervention topics are, how to interact and support families who do not speak the same language that I do? What type of disabilities can be serviced through the early intervention program?  Who provides the services?  How are the outcomes measured?